To avoid being regulated by the Federal Trade Commission pretty much all the big names in the business (incl. Google and Microsoft) have jointly published some “self-regulation principles“. If you feel like just downloading something and printing it to have an important looking paper lying around on your desk; you can find the document >>here<<.

The reason why I am that harsh about it is that I was really disappointed when reading through it. I can just agree with Ryan Single from WIRED when he states inhis article that the key message of the paper is: “Internet Ad Industry Begs for Regulation“

Just not to be misunderstood: I am a supporter of internet advertising and concerning trade mark issues I even consider myself pretty liberal, but… when reading the “Principles” I mainly felt offended.

Although the idea of law-makers (bad) and national Supreme Courts (very bad) does not sound promising to me even a Utah-style attempt “might” be more useful that what the ad industry came up by itself.